As PHANTOM PLANET played a cover of the classic "Somebody's Baby," every girl in the audience was surely wishing the band was personally serenading her. As I looked around the packed Roxy Theater, I realized half of LA's hippest teenage girls were standing before me. These girls were literally drooling, paralyzed by the band's good looks. This was a really sad sight, especially since PHANTOM PLANET has a lot of musical talent. But, hey, this is LA -- who cares about talent?
Before the concert, the young band (all around the age of 20) invited me backstage to conduct an interview. I spent almost an hour with Darren Robinson (guitar), Jacques Brautbar (guitar/vocals), Alex Greenwald (lead vocals/guitar), Jason Schwartzman (drums), and Sam Farrar (bass/vocals). Here's some of what the strapping young lads had to say.
MTV: So do you guys go to school?
ALEX: Right now? No. We're taking time off to tour. We're going to play a lot of concerts and do a lot of promotional stuff with radio stations.
MTV: So how'd you guys meet?
JACQUES: Well, Jason knows Alex through elementary school. They met Darren through Darren's cousin, and I knew Sam from high school. Jason and I met a music store.
MTV: Has fame gone to your head yet?
ALEX: Fame? What's that?
MTV: C'mon, you have all these high school girls out there waiting for you to go on stage.
DARREN: They're all our friends. (Laughs.)
ALEX: Seriously, no. I don't think so.
MTV: What are your aspirations and goals?
ALEX: To touch as many people as possible ... with our music, of course. (Laughs.)
SAM: I think we want to be the same people we are in five years.
MTV: What about fame?
ALEX: We're not looking for it. We just want to have as many possible people in the world know about us.
JASON: Yeah, it's nice to know people appreciate your music.
MTV: Do you guys have any fears?
JASON: I have a fear of getting up on stage and starting to play, and then having everything fall apart. It's happened before-to all of us.
MTV: Okay, you guys are like five good looking guys with great voices. Are you afraid you're going to become like the BACKSTREET BOYS or 'N SYNC?
ALL (in unison): No!
ALEX: We hope our music speaks for itself. You know, we spend a long time writing the songs, and they mean a lot to us.
DARREN: And we won't do back flips on stage or anything.
MTV: So where do your inspirations for your songs come from?
JASON: A lot of times, it comes from hearing other songs. And girls. That's a big one. And just ourselves -- everything that happens in life.
MTV: How about musical influences?
ALEX: THE BEACH BOYS, THE BEATLES, RADIOHEAD, THE CARDIGANS and HOLE.
JACQUES: I'm into a lot of classical music. A lot of our chord changes are influenced by classical music.
MTV: So how'd you guys get your name?
ALEX: Okay, so I have a really messy room. I have really weird things in there. One time, I found this CD; Neil Norman's Greatest Hits. It was like all these science fiction movie theme songs. "Phantom Planet" was one of the songs on there. We really liked the song a lot, and it really reflected the way we were at the time, because we were in the rehearsal studio five hours out of every day, and we were out of the scene for a while. "Phantom Planet" just seemed like a really cool name. The irony is that it didn't have the numbers on the back of the CD, and we actually liked and were listening to the theme from Godzilla. But we kept the name PHANTOM PLANET, event though we think the song is horrible.
MTV: Do you have any embarrassing show stories?
SAM: Every time my bass strap breaks. Seriously, every time.
JASON: No, tell 'em about the time you fell.
SAM: Oh, there was this one time we were performing, and I jumped so high and I fell on my ass. It was so funny. I didn't get hurt, but it was really embarrassing.
MTV: Speaking of fun, what do you guys do for fun? Do you hang out outside of work?
DARREN: We pretty much live together.
JASON: We're best friends.
MTV: Do you guys let your mothers kiss you in public?
JACQUES: On the lips? Ewww!
ALEX: No.
JAQUES: Of course we do.
MTV: Okay, so who gives the best back rubs?
ALEX: Sam.
JASON: I thought it was me!
DARREN: Sam has this spider fingers thing. It's so good.
MTV: Okay, this one is for the girls. What do you look for in a girl?
ALEX: Sense of humor, intelligence...
JACQUES: Kick ass body!
JASON: Sense of humor is a good one.
DARREN: Style.
JASON: Style, and taste of music.
JACQUES: She's driven and knows what she wants.
DARREN: A driver's license.
ALEX: Yeah, that's a good one.
MTV: I think that probably covers it.
Overall, PHANTOM PLANET has a lot of potential. The band members have great chemistry on and off stage. They put on a wonderful and energetic performance, but they do have a familiar sound. It takes a lot more than youth and good looks to set you apart in a city full of these assets...
-- Carrie Kravetz
MTV College Stringer
feedlocal@mtvmail.com (December 8, 1998)
GUYS GET SOME GIRL POWER
When it comes to really communicating, it seems as if guys and girls come from different planets. So, we asked Phantom Planet, a Los Angeles-based pop-rock band, to imagine trading places with us for a day. What a trip.
What are some characteristics you consider to be typically female?
Alex: Breasts. [All laugh]
Darren: Seriously? We probably gossip more than girls do.
Sam: Yeah, we're terrible about it.
Alex: I was going to say that girls spend more time getting ready, but that doesn't apply to us. We take forever.
Sam: As performers, we always try to look our best.
Imagine, for a minute, that you're a girl. How do you think your life would be different?
Jason: Biologically, it's a whole different thing.
Jacques: And socially, we're brought up to have different roles.
Jason: I don't think it's for us guys to say that girls feel different from guys. However, they do have a bunch of
hormones and chemicals that we don't have.
Darren: We'd probably be discriminated against more.
Sam: Parental issues are a good one: girls vs. boys. For instance, if my curfew were midnight, I'd probably have
to get my girlfriend home by 10 p.m. The father of a daughter is..
Alex: ..much more protective of her.
Jason: I think dads want their sons to lose their virginity but want their daughters to keep theirs.
Alex: Do girls' haircuts still cost more than guys?
Darren: I have one.. if a guy hooks up with a lot of girls, he's considered a stud. If a girl does it, she's considered a slut.
Sam: Do girls look at guys as being sluts if they do that?
Jason: They're both losers.
Alex: Walking the streets at night would be pretty scary because girls are much more vulnerable to violent attacks and stuff.
Darren: That's a good point. I feel uncomfortable walking alone at night now.
Jason: Imagine how much weirder you'd feel if you were a girl.
Darren: If a guy is sexually harassed by a girl, I don't think he cares as much.
Alex: I don't agree.
Darren: Let's put it this way: If a girl whistled at me or made comments, I wouldn't take offense. I'd probably
take it as a compliment more than anything.
Jason: I'd go talk to her. I'd be like, "What was that tune you were whistling?" [All laugh]
Do you think your brain would function in the same way if you were a girl?
Alex: I think girls are more logical than guys. Compared with me, they seem to have their stuff together more, in terms
of school and studying. They just seem more focused.
Jason: It's the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. You know, is it how you're raised, or is it in your genes?
Jacques: It's a little bit of both.
Darren: I think it's the way your raised and how society influences you. Guys are more visual than girls.
We put more emphasis on physical attraction. But I think there's a reason for that - girls have more curves and stuff.
Okay, be honest now. What do you talk about with guys that you wouldn't with girls?
Jacques: I wouldn't talk to a girl about getting my nuts squashed.
Sam: Or bathroom behavior. It's strange to think about girls doing it, because we don't sit down when we go. [All laugh]
Darren: Penises.
Sam: Just male body issues in general.
Alex: That and things like, where should I take her on a first date or where is the best place to buy flowers?
Jason: I ask girls for advice like that.
Sam: I think your guy friends will just try to comfort you and your girl friends will try to fix it or try to help you with it.
Jacques: I don't necessarily agree with that.
Sam: Let me rephrase this: I go to my guy friends when I need support, comfort, or a pat on the back. I go to my girl
friends when I want to know the truth.
What about style and clothes? Is there something you would wear if you were a girl that you won't now?
Alex: There's this Diesel dress I've had my eye on. [Laughter] It's leather and really short with a postmodern
design on it. But I wouldn't wear it. It would be too small on me. If it were a shirt, I'd wear it. I don't think dresses are my style.
Jason: You need support, and dresses just don't cut it for guys.
GUYS GET SOME GIRL POWER continued..
Do you think you would let yourself cry more if you were a girl?
Sam: I think I cry plenty. I don't have a problem with it.
Jacques: Me too.
Jason: Yeah.
Darren: I'm pretty good at controlling it. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm a guy. I've never given it too much thought.
Alex: I've been doing plenty of crying lately. I don't have a problem with it either. I've been crying in public since I was a baby.
What makes you cry?
Jason: Girls.
Jacques: Pain...sad things.
Sam: When you can't talk about it and you kinda lose it.
Alex: I've got so much stuff inside, I cry for no reason sometimes.
Darren: I cry when I'm genuinely happy. I can't remember when I last did, though. It was a long time ago.
Jason: Beautiful things make me cry, like a wonderful piece of classical music.
If you were a girl in search of a relationship, what qualities would you look for in a guy?
Alex: I'd look for wealth, because I'm really into spending money.
Darren: Trust.
Jacques: Personality, good looks.
Jason: A guy who knows the world, is bilingual, strong, and a musician. [Pause] I can't answer this.
My mom [actress Talia Shire, who played Sylvester Stallone's wife in Rocky] is going to kill me. Sam, what would you look for?
Sam: Good looks and a good personality.
Alex: A nice car.
Sam: Perhaps someone who is in a band - and well-endowed. [Laughs]
Jason: Ah, man. There you go again. Jacques?
Jacques: I'd look for someone like me, but not as messed up. A little more sane and stable.
Alex: Seriously, I would look for someone with all our answers put together.
Okay, the last question: If you could be a woman for one day, who would it be?
Jacques: The President and CEO of Mattel, because she has a great family and she's really powerful.
Alex: Martha Stewart, because she knows how to cook and I love to eat.
Jason: Sophia Loren or Brigitte Bardot. I wonder what it would be like to be a beautiful bombshell back then.
Alex: Oh, we have the ability to time travel now? OK, then I'll be Cleopatra, because she was so strong.
She had Marc Anthony under her love spell. I wanna know what it's like to have a guy under my spell.
Jason: Wouldn't anyone want to be Hillary Clinton to get inside the mind of the most famous man in America?
Darren: This is kinda dumb, but I wouldn't want to deal with any of the issues that come with being famous.
I would want to be a regular working-class woman just to see what it was like. It seems to me that this
would be a true evaluation of what it's like to be female.
Just Being Himself
Talia Shire's son, Rushmore star Jason Schwartzman, does what comes naturally
"If you want to do something creative," says Schwartzman (pounding home the point in his basement), "nothing should stop you."
When Jason Schwartzman was just 6 or 7 years old, his mother, Rocky star Talia Shire, took him to a top Beverly Hills hairdresser. On his way out, the determined child leaned over, gathered his hair off the floor and deposit-ed it back on his head. As other customers gaped, he announced, "I'm going out with my own hair!"
Now 18, Schwartzman has maintained his rep as a kid unlike many others. So much so that when a casting director met him at a 1997 party, she promptly asked him to audition for the lead in the film Rushmore as, says Schwartzman, "a horny, eccentric teenager who likes older women and writes plays." Though he had never acted before, Schwartzman says, "I remember thinking, `That sounds like me. I can do me.'"
That he can. As Max Fischer in the quirky comedy Rushmore, Schwartzman has won accolades from critics and costars alike. "At first he was quite scared of me," says Olivia Williams, 30, who plays his older love interest. "But he had an essay to do for school, and we would sit and talk about Hamlet together. He's sophisticated in ways that are quite extraordinary conversationally." Despite his inexperience, she notes that "he had an amazing ability. He can improvise, and it's very relaxed and easy in the way he interprets the script."
He was anything but relaxed at his audition. "I don't think nervous is the word," he says. "I was paranoid, freaked out." Which, says Rushmore writer-director Wes Anderson, made him ideal for the role. "We needed somebody who was a little strange, some sort of rock star kid that was also sort of an oddball." Out of 1,800 prospects, "he was the strongest."
Chalk it up to genetics. His mother made her mark in The Godfather films (as Michael Corleone's sister Connie); his father, Jack Schwartzman, was a producer and entertainment lawyer who died of pancreatic cancer in 1994; and his mother's brother is Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. "There's a genetic karma in our family," says Shire. "I'm not a stage mother, but ultimately I'm a creative artist in a family of artists, and I hope we can always turn to each other."
Despite the showbiz pedigree, Schwartzman -- who grew up in Los Angeles, where he still lives with his mother, his brother Robert, 16, and their pugs Bogey, Bella and Stella -- claims to have had a typical childhood. At Little League games, his father was always "the one dad sitting in the top bleachers with a big bag of sunflower seeds, just cheering us on. He was extremely caring, very sensitive and passionate." Just before he died, says Schwartzman, "I had time to really sit there with him and talk to him and make peace with him. I don't feel like there's a loss."
Schwartzman was an inventive child, often scribbling poems -- a source of amusement to Robert and half brother Matthew Shire, 23, Talia's son from a first marriage. "We were like three clowns," he says. "They're my buddies, my best friends. They always made fun of me because I was the sensitive one." Then he got a drum set on his 10th birthday and found a new calling. Four years ago he and four friends formed the rock band Phantom Planet, which recently signed a recording contract with Geffen Records. Schwartzman, who graduated last year from L.A.'s Windward School, where he was vice president of the student council, says he plans to go to college someday. But he hasn't made up his mind about acting. "If I wanted to continue to act," he says, "it would be a necessity to become more involved in the Hollywood world. It's a whole aesthetic. Once I figure it out, then maybe I'd like to pursue it. It's just fun for now."
Meanwhile, he spends free time going to movies, listening to The Who and the Beatles and playing Nintendo. Whatever career he chooses, he's sure he'll succeed. His father, he says, "taught me to know about everything so I'm always in control. If you have something you want to do that you love, you should do it. That's what I've learned in this family."
-- Dan Jewel
